By using this service and related content, you agree to the use of cookies for analytics, personalised content and ads. Colleen Stinchcombe 3 days ago
" data-src="{"default":{"load":"wait","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AAlM2hg.img?h=373&w=624&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=895&y=307"}}" src="//static-entertainment-neu-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/sc/9b/e151e5.gif" title=""I think that body image is such a personal thing, but I am fine with who I am," she said in 2009. - Colleen Stinchcombe" />
" data-src="{"default":{"load":"wait","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AAlMktm.img?h=373&w=624&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=727&y=359"}}" src="//static-entertainment-neu-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/sc/9b/e151e5.gif" title=""It has been really focusing on becoming healthier, and the plus side was that my body changed," she... - Colleen Stinchcombe" />
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President Donald Trump's administration is stepping back from a request made by former President Barack Obama's administration in an ongoing lawsuit over bathroom rights for transgender students in public schools. In a filing Friday with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the federal government asked to withdraw a motion filed last year that asked a judge to scale back a temporary injunction blocking Obama's guidance on the issue. Mandel Ngan / AFP/Getty Images The Department of Justice's filing, which came a day after Jeff Sessions was sworn in as Trump's attorney general, said the parties were "currently considering how best to proceed in this appeal." Texas and 12 other states filed the lawsuit last year challenging the former president's guidance, which directed public schools to allow transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity. A federal judge temporarily blocked the directive nationwide in August. The Obama … [Read more...]

The US state of Texas is running out of a key drug used for lethal injections, according to officials. Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark said that the state's supply of pentobarbital would end in September. Texas has the highest execution rate in the country, with 11 inmates put to death so far in 2013. Some drugs companies have objected to their products being used for capital punishment. Texas has used pentobarbital, a drug used to treat severe epilepsy, in executions since July 2012. 'Clamped down' The state was forced to change to the single-dose sedative when supplies of sodium thiopental, one of three drugs used previously, were cut off. But state officials are now having difficulties with the availability of pentobarbital, which is also typically used to put down animals. "We will be unable to use our current supply of pentobarbital after it expires,'' the Associated Press news agency quoted department spokesman Jason Clark as saying. "We are exploring … [Read more...]

US serial killer Richard Ramirez - known as the "Night Stalker" - has died in hospital in California. Ramirez, 53, was on death row in San Quentin prison after being convicted in 1989 of 13 murders. Officials said he died of natural causes. Ramirez terrorised Southern California in 1984-5 with a rampage of sexual assault and murder. Satanic symbols were left at some of the murder scenes by the killer, who broke into victims' homes at night. Ramirez was captured and beaten by residents in East Los Angeles in 1985 as he attempted to hijack a car. He was recognised from a photo published in newspapers after police identified him as a suspect from a fingerprint. Los Angeles prosecutor Alan Yochelson, who was involved in the case, said his death ended "a pretty tragic period in the history of Los Angeles County". "Richard Ramirez hurt a lot of people and I think our thoughts should be with the next of kin and the survivors, because their lives were changed forever by this man." Random … [Read more...]

The US state of Virginia has used the electric chair to put to death a man who killed two fellow prisoners to speed up his own execution. Robert Gleason, 42, was the first Virginia inmate to choose electrocution over lethal injection since March 2010. The former tattoo artist pleaded guilty to a 2007 murder and subsequently killed two fellow prisoners, while waiving all his rights to an appeal. Virginia's governor declined to intervene in the case. Authorities pronounced Gleason dead at 21:08 on Wednesday (02:08 GMT on Thursday) at the Greensville Correctional Center in the town of Jarratt. 'Urine-soaked sponge' Gleason's lawyers had argued he had a long history of mental illness and his condition had deteriorated during a year in solitary confinement. The only way to stop me is put me on death rowRobert Gleason
Two other evaluations deemed him capable of making his own decisions. He strangled his cellmate, 63-year-old Harvey Watson, in 2009, after tricking him into allowing his … [Read more...]

The US state of Texas has executed its first death row inmate with a single lethal injection of the sedative pentobarbital. Yokamon Hearn, 33, was convicted for the carjacking and murder of a Dallas stockbroker in 1998. Hearn is the sixth inmate to be killed this year in Texas, but the first after the state stopped using a cocktail of three lethal drugs for executions. Death penalty opponents say inmates die more slowly by the single-drug method. Hearn previously appealed against his sentence, arguing his mental disabilities and inadequate legal advice early in his case meant he should be spared execution. Hearn did not show any unusual reactions to the drug, according to reports, and was pronounced dead 25 minutes after the pentobarbital was first administered. When asked if he wanted to make a final statement, he said: "I'd like to tell my family that I love y'all and I wish y'all well. I'm ready." Lethal cocktail Before Wednesday's execution, the three drugs used for court-ordered … [Read more...]

Media captionLIVE: President Obama's speechPresident Barack Obama is expected to order the National Security Agency (NSA) to stop storing data from Americans' phones, after a series of leaks about intelligence operations. Reports suggest Mr Obama will ask Congress to arrange how the data is stored, and how agencies can access it. The president is due to announce a number of changes to the spying system. Former intelligence worker Edward Snowden has leaked an array of details about the NSA's spying programme. As so often, [President Obama's] liberal instincts may be at war with his perceived duty as commander in chief - and he may be doomed to disappoint many on both sides of the debate
He is wanted for espionage in the US and now lives in exile in Russia. The latest revelations claim that US agencies have collected and stored almost 200 million text messages every day across the globe. An NSA programme called Dishfire extracted and stored data from the SMS messages to gather … [Read more...]

Media captionFormer CIA worker Edward Snowden was last seen in Hong Kong, reports the BBC's Jennifer PakThe EU is demanding assurances that Europeans' rights are not being infringed by massive, newly revealed US surveillance programmes. Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding plans to raise the concerns with US Attorney General Eric Holder on Friday. Last week a series of leaks by a former CIA worker led to claims the US had a vast surveillance network with much less oversight than previously thought. The US insists its snooping is legal under domestic law. The Obama administration is investigating whether the disclosures by former CIA worker Edward Snowden were a criminal offence. More revelations promised Mr Snowden's employer, defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, said on Tuesday it had fired the 29-year-old infrastructure analyst for violating its ethics code. Analysis By Bethany BellBBC News, Strasbourg There's widespread anger in Europe about the reports that the US accessed … [Read more...]

Media captionJohn Kerry: "This is a man who has betrayed his country"US Secretary of State John Kerry has labelled intelligence leaker Edward Snowden a fugitive from justice who should "man up" and return home. Mr Kerry added that if Mr Snowden, 30, "believes in America, he should trust the American system of justice". His comments come in the wake of an interview with NBC in which Mr Snowden said he sought asylum in Russia because the US revoked his passport. Mr Snowden also described himself as a trained spy, not a low-level analyst. "A patriot would not run away," Mr Kerry said on Wednesday. "If Mr Snowden wants to come back to the United States... we'll have him on a flight today." Mr Kerry also called the former National Security Agency contractor "confused", adding "this is a man who has done great damage to his country". "He should man up and come back to the US," Mr Kerry said. Harvesting data In the NBC interview, Mr Snowden claims he was trained as a spy who worked undercover … [Read more...]

Media captionHow have so many of the world's cities grown so large in recent years?Asia will wield more global power than the US and Europe combined by 2030, a forecast from the US intelligence community has found. Within two decades China will overtake the US as the world's largest economy, the report adds. It also warns of slower growth and falling living standards in advanced nations with ageing populations. Global Trends 2030, issued to coincide with Mr Obama's second term, says it aims to promote strategic thinking. Published every four years, the report from the National Intelligence Council (NIC) aims to draw together a wide sweep of "megatrends" driving transformation in the world. 'Slow relative decline' The NIC suggests that by 2030, Asia will have more "overall power" than the US and Europe combined - taking into account population size, gross domestic product (GDP), military spending and investment in technology. Image caption The National Intelligence Council says it does … [Read more...]

Media captionThe two leaders agreed to "co-operate" on North KoreaUS President Barack Obama and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have ended a two-day summit described by a US official as "unique, positive and constructive". US National Security Advisor Tom Donilon said Mr Obama had warned Mr Xi that cyber-crime could be an "inhibitor" in US-China relations. He also said that both countries had agreed that North Korea had to denuclearise. The talks in California also touched on economic and environmental issues. The two leaders spent nearly six hours together on Friday and another three hours on Saturday morning at the sprawling Sunnylands retreat in California. Media captionTom Donilon: "If there continues to be this direct theft...it's going to be a difficult problem in the economic relationship"While briefly appearing for a stroll together on Saturday, Mr Obama described their progress as "terrific". After the talks concluded, Mr Donilon told a press conference that President Obama had … [Read more...]

The first objective of President Barack Obama's four-nation trip to Asia has already been accomplished - literally his arrival in Japan. After previous postponements for multiple domestic crises, including last autumn's government shutdown, Mr Obama's return to the region is itself reassuring, a personal manifestation of the foreign policy "pivot" to Asia the administration enunciated two years ago but has struggled to translate in concrete terms. Now that Mr Obama is back in the region - his fifth visit as president - what challenges will he confront, what does he hope to accomplish and what does the region want to hear from him? He arrives in a region that is distracted, concerned and uncertain. The presidential itinerary 23-24 April: Japan 25-26 April: South Korea 26-27 April: Malaysia 28-29 April: Philippines Source: White House Two countries he will visit, South Korea and Malaysia, are preoccupied with significant tragedies. The recent sinking of a Korean ferry claimed as many … [Read more...]

The FBI has made a public appeal to help identify more than 240 victims of a man who used the internet to extort pornographic images from teenage girls. The US agency said Lucas Michael Chansler, 31, had posed as a teenager to get girls to expose themselves via a webcam and then blackmailed them into sending him even more explicit images. Last year he was sentenced to 105 years in jail after pleading guilty to producing child pornography. So far 109 girls have been identified. 'Too smart' The FBI said Chansler, now 31, had targeted teenage girls in 26 US states, three Canadian provinces and the United Kingdom. He was indicted in 2010. The agency said it wanted another potential 241 victims to come forward to receive counselling. Some of the victims had dropped out of school or tried to end their lives, the agency said. "Sextortion is a growing threat both domestically and internationally," FBI's Assistant Director Joseph S. Campbell said. "The devastating impact of these crimes on the … [Read more...]

Having watched the trailer for The Interview, I'm going to say it's not a film I would normally rush to see. But after Sony's decision to can it (for now), I am now determined to watch - and buy tickets for all my friends too. But like any good drama, it has developed over three acts growing progressively more sinister as it goes along. There is a potential Act Four - more of which later. So readers, here's my synopsis so far. Act One: Life imitates art A hack - on Sony Pictures who were about to release a comedy caper about two journalists going to Pyongyang to assassinate the supreme leader Kim Jong-un. The finger of suspicion here in the US has been pointed firmly at North Korea. In a country not best known for its sense of humour (at least intentionally), news of this latest Hollywood production had sparked outrage. The cyber-attack is brilliantly effective and penetrates Sony's computer systems. It sounded like a ludicrous plotline from the movie itself. But no. It was reality. … [Read more...]